1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a traversing blade rotary propeller useful as a propulsion system for various types of boats and aircraft, or as a turbine actuatable by wind or water to produce power. In particular, it relates to a system which applies laterally acting forces upon a fluid to produce propulsion; this action being similar to that produced by the caudal fins of fishes and the flukes of whales.
2. Background and Prior Art
Conventional propellers trace their origin to Archimedes of Syracuse, that extraordinary Greek mathematician, physicist, and inventor who lived in the second century, B.C. Archimedes is regarded as having perfected the principle of the rotating screw for use as a water pump in draining sunken ships. In his pump, a continuous screw or helix was rotated inside a cylinder. Two things happened: first, the desired effect--the screw pushed against the water, and moved it along. A second observed effect: the water resisted this pressure and pushed back. Many centuries later this second phenomenon was adopted to the movement of screwlike surfaces through another fluid; air. The Archimedes screw, or propeller, is now widely used as a propulsion system for a variety of boats and aircraft.